In 1940 Horrocks commanded a battalion during the Battle of France, the first time he served under Bernard Montgomery, the most prominent British commander of the war. Montgomery later identified Horrocks as one of his most able officers, appointing him to corps commands in both North Africa and Europe. In 1943, Horrocks was seriously wounded and took more than a year to recover before returning to command a corps in Europe. It is likely that this period out of action meant he missed out on promotion;[10] his contemporary corps commanders in North Africa, Leese and Dempsey, went on to command at army level and above. Horrocks' wound caused continuing health problems and led to his early retirement from the army after the war.

Since 1945, Horrocks has been regarded by some as one of the most successful British generals of the war, "a man who really led, a general who talked to everyone, down to the simplest private soldier",[11] and the "beau ideal of a corps commander".[12]Dwight D. Eisenhower called him "the outstanding British general under Montgomery".[13]

Commissioned on 8 August 1914 into the 1st Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment,[17]Second Lieutenant Horrocks joined the British Expeditionary Force's retreat following its baptism of fire at the Battle of Mons. On 21 October, at the Battle of Armentières, his platoon was surrounded, and he was wounded and taken prisoner.[18] Incarcerated in a military hospital, he was repeatedly interrogated by his German captors, who believed that the British Army were using expanding bullets in contravention of the 1899 Hague Convention.[19] Horrocks' captors refused to change his clothes or sheets, and denied him and a fellow officer basic amenities. Both had temporarily lost the use of their legs, and were forced to crawl to the toilet, which caused Horrocks' wounds to become infected.[20] However, conditions improved after his discharge and transfer to a prisoner of war camp. On his way to the camp, Horrocks befriended his German escort—he attributed their rapport to the mutual respect that front-line troops share.[21] He was promoted to lieutenant on 18 December 1914,[22] despite being in enemy hands, and often tried to escape, once coming within 500 yards (460 m) of the Dutch border before being recaptured.[23] He was eventually placed in a compound for Russian officers, in the hope that the language barrier would hinder his escape attempts; Horrocks used the time to learn the Russian language. Years later, when working in the House of Commons, he surprised Nikita Khrushchev and Nikolai Bulganin by greeting them in their native tongue.[24] In the latter part of the war he was held in Holzminden prisoner-of-war camp. His resistance in captivity would earn him the Military Cross, awarded in 1920 and backdated to 5 May 1919.[6]

Repatriated at the end of the war, Horrocks had difficulty adapting to a peace-time routine. He went on sprees in London, spending four years of accumulated back-pay in six weeks.[25] However, he returned to active service in 1919 when the War Office called for volunteers who knew Russian.

Inter-war period[edit]

Russia[edit]

In 1919 Horrocks was posted to Russia as part of the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War. After landing at Vladivostok on 19 April, he was taken to British headquarters and briefed. The White Army under Admiral Kolchak, with the help of released Czechoslovak Legion prisoners, had driven the Red Army out of Siberia. However, Kolchak's Czech troops were returning home, and the British military contingent was urgently trying to replace them with Russians. To accomplish this, the British had just two infantry battalions and two small administrative missions, one charged with training and arming the Russians with British war-surplus equipment, and the other with improving the White Army's communications.[26]

Horrocks' first task, along with a party of 13 British officers and 30 other ranks, was to guard a train delivering 27 carriages of shells to the White Army in Omsk, 3,000 miles (4,800 km) away on the Trans-Siberian Railway.[27] The journey took more than a month, and as the only party member fluent in Russian, Horrocks had to deal with many of the difficulties they encountered. At every station, he had to ward off station masters intent on acquiring the cars. While stopped in Manchuli, the British officers' presence provoked a duel between two Cossack officers. Horrocks accepted an invitation to act as a second, but the pair were arrested before the duel could take place. However, he managed to defuse the situation before it came to trial, by claiming his faulty Russian had been the cause of the misunderstanding.[28] The train eventually arrived in Omsk on 20 May, with a full cargo.

His next assignment was in Yekaterinburg in the Urals, where he was appointed second in command of a training school for non-commissioned officers attached to the Anglo-Russian Brigade.[29] He found this post frustrating, having to dismiss nearly a third of his initial cadre on medical grounds, and struggling to get supplies and support from the White Army authorities.[30] Despite this, he developed a rapport with his men and an admiration for the Russian soldier.[31]

Although British forces were ordered home shortly afterwards, Horrocks and another officer, George Hayes, remained to advise the First Siberian Army.[32] The White Army was in retreat, and Horrocks joined them as they fell back to Vladivostok, 3,000 miles (4,800 km) away. He was captured by the Red Army on 7 January 1919, in the town of Krasnoyarsk,[33] and spent 10 months as a prisoner, narrowly surviving severe typhus.[34] The British government negotiated a prisoner release, and Horrocks left Russia on 29 October, returning home on the Royal Navy cruiser HMS Delhi.[35]

Back home[edit]

Horrocks rejoined his regiment, based in Germany with the British Army of the Rhine, and followed it to Ireland, then embroiled in the Anglo-Irish War. There his duties included searching for arms and dealing with ambushes and road-blocks, which he called "a most unpleasant form of warfare".[36] This was followed by a short period in Silesia, to deal with tensions between the Polish and German populations.

In 1928, Horrocks married Nancy Kitchin, daughter of an architect for the Local Government Board. They had one child, a daughter named Gillian, who drowned in 1979 while swimming in the River Thames.[45]

Second World War[edit]

Major-General Horrocks, then GOC of 9th Armoured Division, in his Covenanter command tank during an exercise, 18 July 1942

At the outbreak of the Second World War, Horrocks was working as an instructor at the Staff College, where he had taught since 1938.[46] After helping organise a new, shorter, officer-training course,[47] in December 1939 he was promoted to substantive lieutenant-colonel.[48] The following May, he was despatched to France to command the 2nd Battalion, Middlesex Regiment, a machine-gun battalion directly subordinate to the 3rd Division headquarters of Major-General Bernard Montgomery. British doctrine at the time retained heavy machine guns under the direct command of a corps or division, rather than as an organic part of subordinate formations.[49] He joined the battalion during its retreat to Dunkirk, and after only 17 days had impressed his superiors sufficiently to be given the temporary rank of brigadier, and the command of 11th Brigade. The brigade's previous commander, Kenneth Anderson, had been promoted to General Officer Commanding 3rd Division during the evacuation, when Alan Brooke, commander of II Corps, was recalled to the United Kingdom and Montgomery took over the corps.[12] On Horrocks' return to Britain, he was given command of 9th Brigade and assigned to defend against a possible German invasion.[12] A short period as Brigadier General Staff of Western Command followed, before promotion to acting major-general and command of 44th (Home Counties) Infantry Division on 25 June 1941.[50] In addition to his acting rank, he was promoted to substantive colonel on 28 May 1941 (with seniority backdated to 1 July 1940).[51]

In March 1942, Horrocks was given command of the newly formed 9th Armoured Division and gained the temporary rank of major-general on 27 June.[52] Horrocks, an infantry soldier with no experience in dealing with cavalry, was an unusual choice for commander of an armoured division.[53] He trained the division hard, organising a number of exercises to improve the effectiveness of his troops, and to familiarise himself with armoured warfare.[54] Despite never having commanded a division in battle, he was further promoted to acting lieutenant-general and sent to Egypt to command the Eighth Army's XIII Corps, under Montgomery.[55] General Harold Alexander and Lieutenant-General Montgomery had decided to make a "clean sweep" when replacing the dismissed Claude Auchinleck as Commander-in-Chief Middle East and Eighth Army commander respectively. Officers perceived to have failed under the old regime were removed, and Montgomery's favoured commanders were brought in. Among these was Horrocks, an officer whom Montgomery felt was "exactly what was wanted for the job that lay ahead".[56]

North Africa[edit]

On arriving in North Africa, Horrocks' corps was ordered to defend the Alam el Halfa ridge from an expected attack by the Afrika Korps. Concerned that heavy casualties would jeopardise his planned El Alamein offensive, Montgomery instructed Horrocks to repel Field Marshal Erwin Rommel's forces "without getting unduly mauled in the process".[57] Horrocks prepared for a purely defensive battle, with his armour dug in around the ridge. When the Germans attacked on 30 August, they failed to lure the British tanks towards their 88mm guns—a tactic that had previously been used with great success—and found themselves battered by both artillery and the Desert Air Force.[58] The battle ended with the Germans in control of Himeihat hill, but at a high cost, and the Allied forces unwilling to try to re-take it after a failed attack by the 2nd New Zealand Division.[59] The army's defensive success raised morale,[60] and Horrocks was praised by his subordinate, Brigadier Roberts, for his "wonderful knack of inspiring confidence and enthusiasm wherever he goes".[61] Montgomery, too, was pleased, saying "he deserves great credit for his action on that day".[62]

Horrocks was offered the command of X Corps, an armoured corps, in the planned Alamein battle. He refused it, believing that Major-General Herbert Lumsden, a cavalry officer, would be more suited to the role.[63] Instead he retained command of XIII Corps, and was given the task of making a feint to the south to deceive Axis forces, while the main thrust was made by XXX Corps and X Corps to the north.[63] Montgomery told Horrocks that he was not to incur tank losses, so XIII Corps' offensive operations were limited to small-scale raids.[64] In the aftermath of the landmark British victory that followed, Horrocks' corps was assigned to the reserve, and was reduced in size while the rest of the Eighth Army pursued the retreating Axis forces. At one point the only formation under his command was a salvage unit clearing the wreckage of the battlefield, which he visited daily.[65] However, in December he took over command of X Corps, the lead corps in the advance of the Eighth Army, after Lumsden's dismissal for poor performance during the pursuit.[66] Horrocks was appointed a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order on 31 December 1942.[5][67]

In June 1943, Horrocks sustained serious injuries during an air raid at Bizerte, while watching a rehearsal for the Salerno landings.[72] Bullets from a strafing German fighter struck his upper chest and carried through the body, piercing his lungs, stomach, and intestines.[73] He underwent five operations and spent 14 months recovering.[45] This injury caused him pain for the rest of his life, and continuing health problems later led to his early retirement from active service.

Europe[edit]

Lieutenant-General Horrocks addressing men of XXX Corps at Rees, 26 May 1945. Horrocks carried the map board with him to provide front-line soldiers with an overview.[74]

It was a year before Horrocks recovered sufficiently to tell Alan Brooke, the Chief of the Imperial General Staff, that he was "very anxious to be given another corps".[75] Restored to the acting rank of lieutenant-general in August 1944,[76] he was sent to France to assume command of XXX Corps during the cataclysm engulfing the trapped German Seventh Army and 5th Panzer Army in the Falaise pocket. Montgomery had been dissatisfied with the performance of the corps and its commander, Gerard Bucknall, since the landings in Normandy two months earlier.[77] Horrocks retained control of XXX Corps during the advance through Belgium, taking Brussels and at one point advanced 250 miles (400 km) in only six days.[78] Supplies, however, were a constant concern, with the major French deep-water ports still in German hands, and Allied supply lines stretching perilously back to the Normandy beaches. Montgomery's 21st Army Group was by now operating 300 miles (480 km) from its ports—twice the distance logistical planners had accounted for—so XXX Corps was diverted towards Antwerp to secure its docks and harbour.[79] The city and port fell to the 11th Armoured Division in early September, but Montgomery halted XXX Corps for resupply short of the wide Albert Canal to the north of the city, which consequently remained in enemy hands.[80] Horrocks regretted this after the war, believing that his corps might have advanced another 100 miles (160 km) with the fuel available,[81] although it is doubtful this could have been achieved without delays.[79] Unknown to the Allies, at that time XXX Corps was opposed by only a single German division.[82] However, the pause allowed the Germans to regroup around the Scheldt River, and by the time the Allies resumed their advance, General Student's First Paratroop Army had arrived and set up strong defensive positions along the opposite side of the canal.[83] The task of breaking the strengthened German line, which stretched from Antwerp to the North Sea along the Scheldt River, would fall to the First Canadian Army in the month-long, costly Battle of the Scheldt.[84] By mid-September, XXX Corps had been diverted again, this time to the east.

A Sherman Firefly passes knocked-out British tanks, 17 September 1944. Horrocks' XXX Corps had to advance along a single raised road. This made it easy for German gunners to knock out the leading vehicles, causing delays.

Field Marshal Montgomery made his ambitious September thrust across the Rhine and into Germany's industrial heartland, codenamed Operation Market Garden, a priority for 21st Army Group. XXX Corps under Horrocks was to lead the ground assault, passing along a corridor held by airborne forces in order to link up with the British 1st Airborne Division in Arnhem within four days.[85] In the event XXX Corps never arrived, and although 1st Airborne clung on to their tenuous position for a further five days, by 21 September almost three-quarters of the division was destroyed or captured.[86] Postwar analyses have been divided, some stressing a perceived lack of urgency on the part of Horrocks' men, while others note that German defences in the area were severely underestimated by First Allied Airborne Army's intelligence.[87] Particularly important was the failure to identify the remnants of two SS Panzer divisions, which after Normandy had been sent to the Arnhem area for rest and refitting; intelligence had stated that only "a few infantry units and between 50 and 100 tanks" were in the Netherlands.[88] A series of counterattacks by Army Group B under Field Marshal Model kept Horrocks' units on the defensive, and delayed their advance by forcing the British to halt and secure their flank. The terrain over which Horrocks' men had to move was unsuitable, restricting the vanguard (Guards Armoured Division) to a single narrow raised highway through flat or flooded countryside.[89] Additionally, the Nijmegen Bridge, just 8 miles (13 km) from Arnhem, was not captured by the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment on the first day as planned, and XXX Corps had to assist in its capture on their arrival in Nijmegen two days later, causing a further delay of 36 hours.[90] However, Horrocks was not personally blamed for the operation's failure; in fact, during this period the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division of James M. Gavin came under Horrocks' command, and Gavin later wrote:

He was truly a unique general officer and his qualities of leadership were greater than any I have ever seen. In lecturing at the American service school I stated frequently that General Horrocks was the finest general officer I met during the war, and the finest corps commander".[91]

— James Gavin

During the Battle of the Bulge, Horrocks was temporarily relieved of his command of XXX Corps by Field Marshall Montgomery and sent back to England for a rest. Montgomery had taken this move because Horrocks had become nervy and difficult with his staff.[92]

In early 1945, XXX Corps took part in Operation Veritable, during which the German Army was finally forced back over the Rhine. The corps employed firepower on a massive scale,[93] and "every trick that had been learnt during the past two and a half years was brought into play, and several new ones added".[94] For a short period XXX Corps also had nine divisions under its command.[95] Before the operation, Horrocks accepted an offer to use Bomber Command to attack the town of Cleves, assisting the advance of the 15th (Scottish) Division. The bombers released 1,384 long tons (1,406 t) of high explosive that devastated the town. Horrocks later said that this had been "the most terrible decision I had ever taken in my life" and that he felt "physically sick" when he saw the bombers overhead.[96] Operation Veritable was successful; and by the evening of 9 February (D+1) XXX Corps had broken through the Siegfried Line and into Germany with only light casualties.[94]Bremen was captured on 26 April, exposing the Sandbostel concentration camp, Stalag X-B. The corps had reached Cuxhaven by the time hostilities ceased.[95]

Post-war career[edit]

Horrocks continued to serve in the armed forces after the war, initially as GOC-in-Chief of Western Command[98] receiving substantive promotion to lieutenant-general in 1946, with seniority backdated to 29 December 1944.[99] He briefly commanded the British Army of the Rhine, until he fell ill in August 1948;[100] he was invalided out of the service early in January 1949 by the lingering effects of the wounds he had received in North Africa.[101] Promoted to Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in the King's Birthday Honours that year,[2] he served as Honorary Colonel of a Territorial Army unit of the Royal Artillery.[102] In 1949 he was appointed Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod,[103] a post traditionally held by retired officers, this appointment was confirmed on the accession of Elizabeth II in 1952.[104] The Black Rod has the responsibility of supervising the administration of the House of Lords, controlling admission to it, and taking part in ceremonies. In 1957, Horrocks had the unusual duty of ordering Vivien Leigh out of the House when she interrupted proceedings to plead that the St James's Theatre be saved from demolition.[105] On other occasions, because the Black Rod had to remain in place during long debates, Horrocks relieved his boredom by completing football pools tickets. This had the advantage of looking like note-taking to the assembled lords.[106] Horrocks held the post of Black Rod until 1963.[107]

Horrocks became interested in writing, and submitted articles about military matters to newspapers and magazines including the Picture Post and The Sunday Times. This led to a short but successful career as the presenter of a series of television programmes, British Castles (1962), Men in Battle and Epic Battle, produced by Huw Wheldon. In these, Horrocks lectured on great historical battles, "highlighting excitement and interest" to allow the programmes to appeal to the widest possible audience.[108] He was interviewed extensively for the Thames Television series, The World at War, and, to his embarrassment, appeared on the cover of the BBC's Radio Times magazine.[109] After his television career ended, he served on the board of the housebuilding company Bovis, and continued writing, contributing a column to The Sunday Times and editing a series of British Army regimental histories.[110] In 1968 Horrocks collaborated with J & L Randall as editor of the 'Merit' board game 'Combat'. His portrait and signature appear on the box and in his introduction to the game he states "In war no two battles are ever the same because the terrain is always different and it is this, more than anything else, which influences the composition of the different armies and the tactics employed by the rival Commanders". His autobiography, A Full Life, was published in 1960, and he co-authored Corps Commander, an account of his battles in north-west Europe, published in 1977.

Horrocks acted as a military consultant for the 1977 film A Bridge Too Far, based on Operation Market Garden.[111] The actor Edward Fox played Horrocks in the film, and later commented:

I enjoyed all of the films but A Bridge Too Far is the one I enjoyed the most because of the character I had to play, Lieutenant-General Brian Horrocks. Brian was alive then and I knew him well – we were friends until his death. He was a very particular type of general and it was important that I play the role correctly.[112]